More than a dozen forest fires were recorded by the fire department of the “Iribarren” Municipality, between Thursday, February 16th and Tuesday, February 21st, considerably affecting almost the entire city of Barquisimeto and nearby Cabudare. Every drought during this dry season would be the main cause of these forest and brush fires.
By: Correspondent La Patilla
One of the most affected areas is “Valle del Turbio”, where a fire broke out this Thursday afternoon, in the area next to “Ribereña” Avenue with 47th street, a situation that was also generated during the days of Carnival.
According to the report published by the fire brigade of the Lara State capital, during the carnival holidays, they attended 200 accidents, of which 16 were forest fires.
Víctor Montero, Commander of the Iribarren Fire Department, pointed out that these fires have multiplied in recent weeks due to the drought and the intense solar energy received by the already dry vegetation.
Regarding the most relevant accidents that the “men in blue” attended to, was the fire registered in a lot adjacent to the Western Ambulatory (Outpatient Clinic) which, despite its magnitude, did not cause major inconveniences for the health center staff and patients.
Environmental experts point out that this type of events are more common in vacant lots that do not receive proper maintenance, as well as in open spaces that are currently used as garbage dumps.
Hildebrando Arangú, who is an expert in environmental criminalistics, assured that the dry season in Lara State began in January, and even so, the authorities have not carried out information campaigns on this subject and the risk of fires.
Given this, they request the Lara government to install the Regional Forest Fire Command, since during the coming months this type of incident may increase and worsen.